JawaPos.com – Chairman of the Indonesian Cancer Foundation (YKI) Prof. Dr. dr. Aru Wisaksono Sudoyo, SpPD-KHOM, FINASIM, FACP said immunotherapy is one of the breakthroughs in the medical world that can increase the life expectancy of cancer patients, quoted from ANTARA.
“In its development, it turns out that (immunotherapy) is known to be effective against lung cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer, which have the largest number of cases. Thus, it increases life expectancy significantly,” said Aru during a virtual discussion on Thursday (23/6).
Immunotherapy is the latest cancer treatment innovation that can increase the ability of an individual’s immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.
Aru explained, cancer cells have the ability to disguise themselves so that they are difficult to destroy by the immune system. However, with immunotherapy, the immune system can be improved so that it is able to detect cancer cells and then destroy them.
Immunotherapy is one of the modalities of cancer therapy in addition to surgery, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapy, and chemotherapy.
To determine the right therapy, various tests such as Programmed Death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) are performed. PD-L1 is a transmembrane protein that plays an important role in suppressing the adaptive support of the immune system during certain events or conditions.
Tests with PD-L1 immunohistochemistry in patients will show the level of PD-L1 expression in tumor tissue. The higher the expression of PD-L1, the better the response to immunotherapy.
The results of clinical trials show that immunotherapy treatment can help stop or slow the growth of cancer cells, prevent cancer from spreading to other parts of the body and help the immune system work better at destroying cancer cells.
In lung cancer patients, Aru said immunotherapy provides a 5-year survival rate four times higher than standard chemotherapy treatment and reduces the risk of severe side effects by up to 22 percent.
“Meanwhile, triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients treated with a combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy can reduce the risk of death by up to 27 percent.” added Aru.
As for cervical cancer, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) recently published medical guidelines for cervical cancer patients who have experienced a recurrence. Clinical trial data from a combination of immunotherapy with the previous standard of treatment can provide a 35 percent better benefit, where the disease does not worsen and provides a 33 percent longer life expectancy.
Immunotherapy is now available in hospitals undergoing cancer treatment. However, Aru said, not all types of lung cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer can be treated with immunotherapy.
“Patients still need to consult with their doctor first to find out the best treatment according to each patient’s condition,” concluded Aru.
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